The Real D.O.J. Scandal: Infringement of Voting Rights

An article on AlterNet today offers yet more proof that one of the major preoccupations of Bush's overzealous Department of Justice is voter fraud. Voter fraud is trying to vote when you're not eligible.

First, the background. The Bush D.O.J. has all but completely dropped the ball on voting rights cases, with only a single case alleging that black voters were disenfranchised. As Leigh blogged last week, Justice has also neglected civil rights cases in general. But the department did find the timeand I'm sure it took a while to find this caseto prosecute the first ever "reverse discrimination" case, alleging that Noxubee County, Mississippi, has systematically tried to disenfranchise white voters.

The AlterNet article traces a straight line from New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias's determination that voter fraud cases filed against ACORN weren't substantial enough to prosecute to his appearance on the D.O.J.'s "buh-bye" list. First, State Republican Chairman David Weh encouraged Iglesias over coffee to reconsider. Iglesias held firm. Then Weh went to a Rove staffer he knew and said, "Man, you guys need to get a new U.S. attorney. This guy is hopeless." The next time Weh saw Rove, he asked again about Iglesias. And Rove replied, "He's gone."

Indeed he was. Washington U.S.A. David McKay was also fired shortly after Republican officials complained that he was unwilling to prosecute voter fraud. Both Iglesias and McKay worked in potential swing states. Stricter voter requirementspurportedly to ward off voter fraudresult in lower turnout among minorities and the poor, who usually vote Democrat.

Despite repeated Republican assertions that voter fraud is a widespread problem, the D.O.J. has only convicted 86 people in 5 years. Most of them mistakenly filled out forms or misunderstood the eligibility requirements. These honest mistakes have resulted in serious punishments. Kimberly Prude, 43, has been jailed in Milwaukee for more than a year for voting while on probation. Usman Ali was deported to Pakistan from Florida, where he had lived legally for more than 10 years, for incorrectly filling out a voter-registration card while renewing his driver's license.